26 Seconds of Divine DESIGN!

Hello, my name is Becky and I live in Canby, Oregon.

Canby is the home of the Cougars, the Clackamas Fair, and Elsie Cutsforth's potato salad.
South Canby was also right on the edge of the path of totality during this past week's solar eclipse.

You might not know that I have a slight fondness for science fiction.  I thank my Brothers for filling our childhood home with Star Trek and Lost in Space episodes.  I imagine that this helped to create my wonderment for Space.  It may even be the reason I have a Chewbacca ring tone on my phone.

Thankfully, these two geeky brothers of mine, also recently confirmed for me that this solar eclipse would be so much more than bad traffic jams, jacked up gas prices, and recalled eclipse glasses.  These were the stories the local news insisted on reporting on for weeks and weeks and WEEKS!  We know!  We know!  I wanted to shout at the TV.   Could you please tell us about the ECLIPSE for heaven's sake?

And so I turned to the Brothers, and they did not disappoint.  Our conversations touched upon topics and words such as “umbra”, “corona”, “line of nodes”, "shadow bands", "apogee", "Baily's beads", etc …. There was even some discussion about the legend of a "lizard man" that has been known to appear during total eclipses ....

But the things I learned that amplified this event to a much higher level of awe are these:

• You have the Sun, the moon, and Earth - they all have to line up in a wonderful way.  First of all, the Sun and the moon have to appear to be the same size in the sky.  And they are anything but.  Think of a grapefruit compared to the itty bitty ball on the tip of a ball point pen.  The Sun is 400 times larger than the moon,  but the moon is 400 times closer to the earth so that helps alot.  Then, you add a new moon (the dark side) at it's farthest away orbit from Earth.  Then you position yourself somewhere on Earth where this particular perspective will be on display as the moon slips dead center in front of the sun.  For me it was 26 seconds in my backyard.   That's a whole lot of coordinated happenings to set the stage for this incredible show.  (Yes, I'm sure there is even MORE to it than just this, but knowing just THIS much is mind blowing!)

And the real kicker for me is this:

• In our solar system, there are 149 moons.  Some of these moons also eclipse the sun.   But OUR moon, is the ONLY moon that sets up for a total solar eclipse of this spectacularness.  No others are as special or brilliant as the ones seen from Earth.  How fabulous that we have front row seats on the ONE planet with the very best total eclipse in the solar system!  Luck?  Coincidence??? 

I think not.

It's a God thing.  He put this in the sky for us - designed for our enjoyment and wonderment.  A gift.
It was definitely a WOW event.

                                     8/21/2017 ~ Canby, Oregon ~ Photo by Mark Hawley

Thank you Bob.
Thank you Mark.
Thank you God .....

The next U.S. showtime is scheduled for April 8, 2024.  To my Ohio family ~ Prepare to be AMAZED and let us know if you see the lizard man!
(Lorain, Ohio will have 3 minutes and 53 seconds of totality!)

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork."
Psalm 19:1